When I am in Oregon I often visit the light house at Yaquina Head. The lighthouse is more than often enveloped in a heavy fog. During such times the light house lamp revolves and its horn sounds off every 11 seconds alerting ships of the danger of the rocks below. If the captains of the ships ignored the bright light and sound of the horn they would surely run their crafts aground.
Sometimes it feels like I am on a ship enveloped by fog. How about you? Sometimes I feel like I am perilously close to running aground. At such times I pray that the fog will clear that I might see the right path. I pray that our Lord will grant me a clear vision of how to deal faithfully with a world full of anxiety and insecurity.
I cannot speak for you, but I am tired of all the advertising that I faced the decriminalization of marijuana charges in New Jersey which assures me that if I purchase this or that I will be saved from the perils surrounding me….that If I just have this or that I will not need to fear trying to keep up with my neighbors, being loved by my family, or completing chores around the house. The images that the advertising places before me are of joy and peace and relief. But, of course, they are all too simplistic. I have yet to find a new car wrapped in a large red bow with my wife and kids and dogs cheerfully greeting me on the driveway that is cleared perfectly of snow…even while the snow is beautifully falling silently all around us…under a perfectly blue sky.
The concerns I have for my life, my family, my community are not going to be solved by material things wrapped up in bright packaging. How could they? No advertiser offers a long-term solution or the proper attention needed to address our deep concerns.
You and I know that when we encounter difficult situations we cannot put our hopes and expectations on the acquisition of material things…things that cannot possibly ultimately fulfill our needs. We know that we can but turn to our Lord Jesus Christ…the one true light that shines through our darkness. We know Jesus can lift the fog that surrounds us and still the storms that rage around us.
It is and always will be good news that we can take our concerns to Jesus. For Jesus shows us the way to peace and hope.
Christ’s Peace, Pastor Steve